By default when rsync transferrs a file named foo it will create a temporary 
file named .foo-xxxx and then rename it over the previous file.  The advantage 
of this is that there is an atomic operation replacing one version of the file 
with another.  The disadvantage is that if you use a filesystem like BTRFS or 
ZFS with deduplication disabled (as you will do unless you have unusually 
large amounts of RAM to space) then creating a new file will break copy-on-
write.

I have some situations where I want to transfer backups of data to ZFS and 
BTRFS filesystems and not use excessive disk space by using multiple copies of 
database files.  I'm aware of send/recv functionality, but it's not ready for 
use on BTRFS and on ZFS it requires that the sender be running ZFS.

Can I make rsync overwrite files in place instead of recreating them?  If so 
how?

Yes I've read the rsync man page and didn't find it.  No I didn't read through 
all 3446 lines (50+ A4 pages) of the man page, a search didn't find it.

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